I tugged Magnus to come with me, and I crossed the road. The dog growled slightly, as if warning us not to come too close, but there wasn’t any real conviction behind it. In fact, he looked like he was trembling a little. I put the loop of the leash handle around my wrist to free up my hands. I told Magnus to sit and he did as I asked. I crouched down and pulled out one of the treats I still had in my pocket and offered it to the dog. He waited a few moments, sniffing the air between us. In the end his hunger won out, and he came over to scarf down the treat.

“Good boy,” I said, and then I reached out carefully and picked him up. He was light and easy to carry in one arm. I took a look at his tag. His name was Sunshine, and I put his address into my maps app. When I asked it to give me directions, it told me to walk about a minute south to get to his house. I had to turn my phone around to determine that south meant left.

“Let’s get you home,” I told him. “I bet somebody is missing you.”

Sunshine’s house was a bungalow that reminded me of Noah’s place, and I knocked on the door. An older woman with long white hair answered the door. “What?”

Did she not see that I was holding her dog? “I found Sunshine here on the side of the road.”

She shaded her eyes and stepped forward. “I didn’t realize that he’d gotten out. How were you able to carry him? Sunshine doesn’t like strangers.”

“He seems to like me.” I was good with difficult dogs. We had an understanding. The understanding was that I would ply them with treats if they made a minimal effort to do what I wanted. It had worked out well for me so far.

“I suppose you better come inside,” she said with a grimace, and I followed her in. A real curmudgeon, as my mom would say. “I’m Gladys Kravitch.”

“Juliet Nolan,” I responded.

“You out wandering the neighborhood looking for lost dogs?” She closed the front door once I’d stepped inside.

“I was just up the road at Noah Douglas’s house, helping out with Magnus.” I lifted his leash, in case she hadn’t noticed him, either.

She fixed her annoyed gaze on the dog, and Magnus hid behind my legs. “Bah. The movie star.” She said the words with disgust, the same way I’d say the spinach and kale salad.